{"id":395201,"date":"2026-08-02T02:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T02:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/395201\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T02:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T02:52:17","slug":"video-of-two-brothers-irish-step-dancing-to-beyonces-country-hit-texas-hold-em-is-pure-delight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/395201\/","title":{"rendered":"Video of two brothers Irish step dancing to Beyonc\u00e9’s country hit ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ is pure delight"},"content":{"rendered":"

In early February 2024, Beyonc\u00e9 rocked the music world by releasing a surprise new album of country tunes. The album, Renaissance: Act II, includes a song called \u201cTexas Hold \u2018Em,\u201d which shot up the country charts, with a few bumps along the way, and landed Queen Bey at the No.1 spot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the first Black female artist to have a song hit No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s country music charts, Beyonc\u00e9<\/a> once again proved her popularity, versatility, and ability to break barriers without missing a beat. In one fell swoop, she got people who had zero interest in country music<\/a> to give it a second look, forced country music fans to broaden their own ideas about what country music looks like, prompted conversations about bending and blending musical genres and styles, and gave the Internet a crash course on the Black roots of country music.<\/p>\n

And she inspired the Gardiner Brothers to add yet another element to the mix: Irish step dance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a TikTok that\u2019s been viewed over 42 million times, the Gardiner Brothers don cowboy hats while they step in time to \u201cTexas Hold \u2018Em,\u201d much to the delight of viewers everywhere.<\/p>\n

Watch:<\/p>\n

Meet the guys behind the viral video<\/p>\n

Michael and Matthew Gardiner are professional Irish-American step dancers and choreographers who have gained international fame with their award-winning performances. They\u2019ve also built a following of millions on social media with videos like this one, where they dance to popular songs, usually in an outdoor environment.<\/p>\n

The melding of Irish dance with country music sung by a Black American female artist may seem unlikely, but it could be viewed merely as country music coming back to its roots. As mentioned, country music has roots in Black culture and tradition. One major staple of the country music genre, the banjo, was created by enslaved Africans and their descendants during the colonial era, according to The Smithsonian<\/a>. The genre also has deep roots in the ballad tradition of the Irish, English and Scottish settlers in the Appalachian region of the U.S. Despite modern country music\u2019s struggle to break free from \u201cmusic for white people\u201d stereotypes,<\/a> it\u2019s much more diverse than many realize or care to admit, and Queen Bey is simply following tradition.<\/p>\n

The internet couldn\u2019t get enough<\/p>\n

People are loving the blending of genres and culture that the TikTok exemplifies.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever thought I\u2019d see Irish step dancing while Beyonc\u00e9 sings country,\u201d wrote one commenter. \u201cMy life is complete. \u2665\ufe0f\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo happy Beyonc\u00e9 dropped this song and exposed my timeline to diversified talent,\u201d wrote another.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyonc\u00e9 brought the world together with this song,\u201d offered another person.<\/p>\n

\u201cAyeeee Irish Dancing has entered the BeyHive chatroom\u2026 WELCOME!!\u201d exclaimed another.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I can explain how many of my interests are intersecting here,\u201d wrote one commenter, reflecting what several others shared as well.<\/p>\n

And for an extra bit of fun, the Gardiner Brothers also shared their bloopers from filming the video. Turns out stepping in the rain isn\u2019t as easy as they make it look.<\/p>\n

What this mashup really proves<\/p>\n

The Beyonc\u00e9\/Gardiner Brothers combo and the reactions to it are a good reminder that none of us fit into one box of interest or identity. We\u2019re all an eclectic mix of tastes and styles, so we can almost always find a way to connect with others over something we enjoy. What better way to be reminded of that fact than through an unexpected mashup that blends the magic of music with the delight of dance? Truly, the arts are a powerful uniting force we should utilize more often.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In early February 2024, Beyonc\u00e9 rocked the music world by releasing a surprise new album of country tunes.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[47208,2172,138998,138999,139000,27,29,28,139001,139002],"class_list":["post-395201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-beyonce","tag-country-music","tag-gardiner-brothers","tag-irish-step-dance","tag-irsigh-dance","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-tiktok-videos","tag-viral-tiktok"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}